Media Skills 2014!Week 1 !

Dr Kane Hopkins

Stream + contact details• Announcements, readings, admin guide, copies of materials,

tutor details, tutorial booking, assignment instructions and assignment drop boxes

• PASS leader: Hannah Merritt. From week 2 • Where and when TBA

• Getting in touch with me: • k.hopkins@massey.ac.nz • 801 5799 extn 62355 • 5F48 – office hours Monday 2-4pm

The textbook

Assessment

Media Brief 4 August 2 pages 10%

Media!Release

8 September 1 page 15%

Media Plan 13 October 6–8 pages 35%

Tutorials 10%

Exam ?? November 2 hours 30%

Assignment submission• The assignments are all due Monday at 10am • You have an automatic no-questions-asked one-week

extension • You won’t lose any marks for your assignment being late • But… you won’t get any feedback on your assignment • If your assignment is going to be more than a week late, please

get in touch with me

Media Skills & Public Relations• Media skills covers the skills used in media relations — a

technical function of public relations involving compiling, writing and distributing information to the media, in an attempt to gain editorial coverage

• We situate this within a PR framework that encourages researching, strategising and planning (see Textbook Ch.1 and Reading A for more on PR)

• The media are both a means of getting information out to publics/audiences AND a monitoring tool or source of information about society, industry, competitors, etc.

Why is media relations important?

Why is media relations important?

What are we going to look at?

• Media structure and functions • Understanding audiences • Newsworthiness, “angles” and how to get publicity • Media relations and writing media releases • How journalists work, including in different contexts • Media planning and strategy • The ethics of media relations and skills

How will we go about it?• Module 1 (weeks 1 to 4) — familiarising ourselves with the

media; theory based • Module 2 (weeks 5 to 9) — media writing skills (including

practical application) • Module 3 (weeks 10-11) — the “live” media environment

(theory and practical skills) • Summary and Integration (week 12) • Note: You require set readings (see Stream) and a textbook

(“Media Relations: Issues and Strategies”) • And… tutes start this week

Learning Outcomes!(By semester end, you should know how to…)

1. Analyse the relationships between media goals, audiences, and gatekeepers and apply these to media planning

2. Evaluate and apply newsworthiness criteria to media writing for different genres

3. Demonstrate knowledge of procedures for broadcast interviews, media conferences and online media relations

4. Demonstrate an understanding of journalists’ working conditions, including ethical expectations and specialist terminology.

Investor Relations

Advertising

Government Relations

Marketing

Consumer & Brand PR

Online PR

Community Relations

Public Affairs

Internal Communication

Publicity

Issues Management

Reputation Management

Corporate Communications

Media Relations

8.1%

20.3%

24.5%

35.6%

36.4%

38.4%

40.9%

45.5%

51.0%

53.6%

54.1%

59.5%

62.8%

64.7%

What are the media?

• The mediums used to send messages from source/s to receivers

• The term usually implies large scale communication (i.e. mass media)

• The media are a conduit — so in this paper, they are regarded not as the target of your message so much as the audiences they reach

• The “pipeline” analogy implies the audience is passive • But the “uses and gratifications” approach asks how the

audience responds to information

Uses and Gratifications Model!(Reading B)• Audiences are not passive; often very active • Audiences use the media for different purposes or to satisfy

various needs, at different times (e.g. sometimes rationally, other times for escapism; to find out something new or to seek reinforcement)

• Model has been criticised (empirical studies unclear) BUT key point is that the audience is “in control”; therefore those seeking to reach them need to begin by studying the audience/s and their needs.

Where does the power lie?• Audiences can be passive or independent; we can embrace

or resist media messages… the choice is ours (to some extent, anyway)

• Yet studies consistently show the media are capable of influencing the audience

• By developing a knowledge of media skills, you have the opportunity to make your or your organisation’s voice heard. How will you do this?

Key questions

• Who am I trying to communicate with? • What are they like? (interests, values, needs, likes, dislikes,

characteristics) • What media do they use? • What do they use the media for? • What media can I find that will help me to better understand

my audience?

A case study: Pacific peoples (Reading C)• The need? Mental health workers familiar with Pacific people

— which led to a communication campaign to recruit trainees • Communicators researched values and targeted key media

(oral not written, not mainstream) • Key message emphasised making a difference through

commitment to family and community • Campaign monitored; seen as successful.

Summary• Any information or media campaign should begin by looking

at, and trying to understand, the audience’s needs and characteristics.

• The media are a way of reaching your “real” (or “end”) audience; the media are not the actual audience for your message (although you need to get them “on-side”).

• Audience characteristics (including cultural diversity) need to be considered at all stages of message development.